Egret ate ALL of my fish!

[sissy]

sun but it is good for the pond at least a little .I use colleen sedges to help keep nutrients down that feed it .Peroxide sprayed on it and a toilet bowl brush gets it .I use 3 lbs of activated charcoal in each filter and the same amount of crushed oyster shells .I get the activated charcoal at pet mountain.com when the offer 50 dollar shipping .I just bought 6 bags of it .I was only going to get 4 but told them to make it 6 and I get the acurel kind it is cheaper for 3 lbs less than 5 dollars .I use quilt batting soaked in peroxide and water in a basket on top of my filter with a course filter on top of it to keep single cell green algae down .It has worked for me

 

[fishin4cars]

Would one of these work for you? Easy to remove for cleaning and when guest are over.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fish-Pond-G...214?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5aec24206e

 

[gardenlady]

sun but it is good for the pond at least a little .I use colleen sedges to help keep nutrients down that feed it .Peroxide sprayed on it and a toilet bowl brush gets it .I use 3 lbs of activated charcoal in each filter and the same amount of crushed oyster shells .I get the activated charcoal at pet mountain.com when the offer 50 dollar shipping .I just bought 6 bags of it .I was only going to get 4 but told them to make it 6 and I get the acurel kind it is cheaper for 3 lbs less than 5 dollars .I use quilt batting soaked in peroxide and water in a basket on top of my filter with a course filter on top of it to keep single cell green algae down .It has worked for me

You know one of you *perhaps it was you* suggested when my pond was so filthy to use quilt batting in a basket like your picture where the spitter runs into it and it was and still is a miracle. My pond is completely clear except for some of the string algae attached to some of the plant baskets and edges of the bog.

 

[gardenlady]

Would one of these work for you? Easy to remove for cleaning and when guest are over.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fish-Pond-G...214?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5aec24206e

You know what..I totally think so! I was actually looking at those online today when people were suggesting net covers. Now that I've decided we need a larger and deeper pond I'm going to wait to see what size I need. Thanks!

 

[pondlover]

Gardenlady I can totally relate to how your feeling. I saw a heron fly away from my pond on Friday. I had 15 Koi and now I have 3. It makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. We have two places for our fish to hide and my pond is nearly 4 ft at the deepest and my fish were not protected. I very distressed about this whole thing and very discouraged. :sad:

 

[sissy]

the string algae on the baskets and by the bog are normal and actually help your water stay clear .

 

[sissy]

Thats the thing koi sometimes think they are being fed and come up to being eaten .Sad to hear all the bad things happening to all .

 

[gardenlady]

Gardenlady I can totally relate to how your feeling. I saw a heron fly away from my pond on Friday. I had 15 Koi and now I have 3. It makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it. We have two places for our fish to hide and my pond is nearly 4 ft at the deepest and my fish were not protected. I very distressed about this whole thing and very discouraged. :sad:

Wow and I'm so sorry to hear that! I had some for about 4 years and loved going out and sitting on the bench and watch them swim. The lose of them far exceeds the expense involved but protecting that investment also is important. It is very upsetting to lose our fish but I'm determined to make sure it doesn't happen again. I hate to hear that 4 ft didn't protect them which means that even digging ours deeper, most certainly shows how important using a net of some sort to cover the pond when it's done is going to be. If you saw one of the responses I got someone attached a photo of a cover I think will work although there are other ideas posted that will work as well. Thanks for posting and good luck!

 

[gardenlady]

the string algae on the baskets and by the bog are normal and actually help your water stay clear .

good to know so I'll stop disliking seeing it there. Thanks Sissy

 

[gardenlady]

Thats the thing koi sometimes think they are being fed and come up to being eaten .Sad to hear all the bad things happening to all .

I saw some information on just that when I was searching the internet. I don't...didn't...have any koi although I love them. I think my pond is too small for them and they kept eating my plants although I'd love to have some.

 

[sissy]

well let us see all the new work when you get started on remaking the pond I keep window screening over my pond .It is attached to the bridge on one side and to a 2x4 or the other side .I had it attached with a metal pipe but could not lean on it to net the pond so went back to the board

 

[sissy]

yep koi get big and are fussy about water quality .Goldfish are so much more simple to take care of .But They still come up for food and get used to seeing people .

 

[gardenlady]

yep koi get big and are fussy about water quality .Goldfish are so much more simple to take care of .But They still come up for food and get used to seeing people .

that looks great and I'm sure it works wonderfully to protect them. I see two Huge Koi in there! How many gallons is your pond? As soon as my husband slows down he's promised to get it taken care of and I definitely will post photos of the progress. Getting excited at the prospect of a whole new design...poor guy!

 

[Ruben Miranda]

Hello
So sorry for your loss
I know it is just heart breaking when a predator takes your fish. :sad:

All good suggestions up above
Once they find it they keep coming back.

So get something around and over it before you get more babies.

Ruben

 

[gardenlady]

All good suggestions up above
Once they find it they keep coming back.


Ruben

Gave me chills..I read that today also! Don't you know I'll be eyeing the egrets on the lake outside my back fence fron now on. This definitely was a sad lesson learned. I never even considered them before now as they were always flying from one side of the lake to the other and looked so pretty and sometimes we would see them in the trees next to the lake. Guess they were eyeing fish, ducklings and turtles that are out there and then this one turned his head the other way and saw our pond. Thanks for the info.